YI

also called Lolo, or Wu-man, ethnic group of Austroasiatic origin living largely in the mountains of southwest China and speaking a Tibeto-Burman language; the term is used by the Chinese to designate what they formerly called the Lolo or Wu-man. The Yi people numbered about 5.9 million in the late 20th century. Their principal concentrations were in Yunnan and Szechwan provinces, with smaller numbers in northwestern Kweichow province and in the northern part of Kwangsi Chuang autonomous region. Almost two-thirds of the Yi live in Yunnan province alone. The Yi language is spoken in six relatively distinct dialects. Among lesser minorities within the Yi language group are the Lisu, Na-hsi (Naxi) (former Moso), Hani, Lahu, and Pai. The traditional Yi culture includes a primitive hoe-using agriculture, livestock herding, and hunting. A caste system formerly divided the Yi into two groups. The Black Bone Yi, the ruling group, were apparently descended from a people that originated in northwest China. The far more numerous White Bone Yi were formerly subjugated or enslaved by the Black Bones. The subjugation of the White Bones was ended by the Chinese government in the 1950s. The White Bones have spread over the highlands of Yunnan and Kweichow, while the heartland of the Black Bones lies in the great and lesser Liang Mountains southwest of the Szechwan Basin. The Lisu group, numbering about 520,000 in China, have spread southward from Yunnan as far as Myanmar (Burma) and northern Thailand. The Chinese distinguish between Black Lisu, White Lisu, and Flowery Lisu, terms that seem to relate to their degree of assimilation to Chinese culture. In the 1960s the Black Lisu, living highest up in the Salween River valley, were least civilized; they wore coarse clothes of homespun hemp, while the others dressed in colourful and elaborate garments. In their migrations the Lisu have kept to the highest parts of hill ranges, where they cultivate hill rice, corn (maize), and buckwheat on frequently shifted fields worked mainly with hoes. Their houses are of wood and bamboo. Crossbows, poisoned arrows, and dogs are used for hunting. They have a clan organization, men of one clan taking wives from others. They worship their ancestors and gods of earth and sky, wind, lightning, and forest. The Na-hsi, also known as Moso, are estimated to number about 270,000. In common with the Tibetans, many of them embrace Tibetan Buddhism; they also believe in various spirits and demons and, along with their shamans, have priest-exorcists of the Bon cult of Tibet.